Crime Suspect in 1975 killing of Lyon sisters poised to plead guilty

06:00 08 september 2017

06:00 08 september 2017 Source:
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BREAKING: Guilty plea expected in 1975 abduction and murders of sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyon . A sex offender accused in the 1975 disappearance and murders of sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyon from a Wheaton shopping mall — one of Maryland’s most notorious crimes — is poised

A sex offender accused in the 1975 disappearance and murders of sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyon from a Wheaton shopping mall — one of Maryland’s most notorious crimes — is poised to enter a guilty plea , according to officials familiar with the negotiations.

A sex offender accused in the 1975 disappearance and murders of sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyon from a Wheaton shopping mall — one of Maryland’s most notorious crimes — is poised to enter a guilty plea, according to officials familiar with the negotiations.

Lloyd Lee Welch, 60, charged two years ago, would become the first person convicted in the girls’ deaths, in a case that many feared would never be solved. Based on their recent work, detectives believe the sisters, ages 10 and 12, were sexually assaulted and killed before the remains of at least one of them were taken to rural Bedford County, Va., and burned.

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— A convicted sex offender accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall is expected to plead guilty to the Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., 60, was scheduled to stand trial Tuesday in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

Welch, a former carnival worker, had been set to go to trial next week in Bedford, but online court records show the trial has been “withdrawn.”

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Welch instead has agreed to a plea agreement that calls for him to admit guilt in the Lyon sisters’ disappearance and face decades in prison, according to multiple people with knowledge of the case. The terms, which have been under negotiation for several weeks, also would resolve unrelated sexual assault cases in Prince William County, according to people familiar with the agreement.

Any plea deal would not be final until Welch appeared before a judge and admitted guilt, and the judge signed off on it. He is set to appear in court in Bedford on Tuesday, and Welch could change his mind before the agreement is finalized.

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A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

If Welch is convicted, it will bring a measure of justice for a family that has lived with the tragedy for 42 years. The sisters vanished during a March 25, 1975, outing to the Wheaton Plaza shopping center, where they had walked to see friends, look at Easter decorations and have lunch. Massive searches turned up no sign of Katherine and Sheila, and residents throughout the Washington region suddenly questioned the safety of their neighborhoods.

The crime went unsolved for decades before cold-case detectives homed in on Welch in 2013. He was indicted two years later.

The plea agreement would spare the Lyon family a long and difficult trial that could have included gruesome admissions about what happened to the girls.

And a plea means prosecutors would not have to piece together a case made difficult because the girls’ bodies were never found, key witnesses have died and there was little to no forensic evidence to bring forward.

Report: Suspect in 1975 sisters' slaying to plead guilty

A convicted sex offender accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall is expected to plead guilty to the crime that has haunted the region for more than four decades. Welch was scheduled to go on trial Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon. Online court records indicate the jury trial has been “withdrawn” and a motion hearing is scheduled instead. (Ricky Carioti /The Washington Post via AP, File) BEDFORD, Va.

— A published report says a man accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. Lloyd Lee Welch Jr. was scheduled to stand trial next Tuesday in the killings of

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

Police and prosecutors continue to believe others were involved in the killings, but those potential suspects have died or officials felt they did not have strong-enough cases against them.

If the plea goes through, given Welch’s age and parole practices in Virginia, it is difficult to see him ever getting out of prison.

Welch is serving a long prison sentence in Delaware, where he pleaded guilty in 1998 to sexually molesting a 10-year-old girl. He is scheduled to be released in that case in April 2026.

Welch is not eligible for parole in Delaware. He could continue to earn good-behavior credits and quicken his release date to sometime around 2024, when he is 67. If he is convicted in Virginia under the plea, he would then be moved to a prison in the state to begin serving time for the Lyon sisters’ deaths.

Virginia abolished parole years go, but it remains in place for crimes committed before 1995 under a provision that grandfathered in those cases.

Under those rules, according to Virginia’s Parole Board Policy Manual, many convicts become eligible for parole consideration after a quarter of their sentence.

Suspect in 1975 slayings of sisters expected to plead guilty

A man charged with killing two young sisters from Maryland is expected to plead guilty Tuesday, more than four decades after the girls vanished during a trip to a local shopping mall. Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., 60, is scheduled to appear in a Virginia court Tuesday. Welch is accused of snatching 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon in March 1975. Authorities believe he burned the girls' bodies on a remote mountain in Bedford County, Virginia, where his family owned land. They were never recovered.

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

But someone with Welch’s criminal past who pleaded guilty to his current charges in Bedford would have a very difficult time getting released, said Adrianne Bennett, chair of the Virginia Parole Board.

After the initial investigation into the Lyon sisters’ disappearance slowed, it seemed the case might never be solved. Montgomery County investigators developed suspects over the years, but not with the certainty they needed to file charges.

The dynamic began to shift in 2013, when investigators took a closer look at Welch, whose name they noticed in an old case file. In 1975, when he was 18, he lived in Maryland and claimed to have seen the girls at the mall.

As detectives looked deeper, their suspicions grew.

Welch had picked up an extensive criminal record since the mid-1970s — in Maryland, Florida, Iowa, South Carolina and Delaware. The most serious cases were convictions for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl in South Carolina and another 10-year-old girl in Delaware. The detectives noted that he was serving time in Delaware and began to travel there. Welch spoke to them, and his words became a big part of the case against him.

In subsequent court documents and court hearings, police and prosecutors laid out in broad terms what they think happened to the Lyon sisters:

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A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

(AP) — Several sources report that a man accused of killing two young Maryland sisters who disappeared more than 40 years ago plans to plead guilty . The sisters — Katherine and Sheila Lyon — were last seen near a mall in Wheaton in March 1975 .

Welch began to follow the pair that March day, according to the accounts. Sometime after 2 p.m., he and others managed to get the sisters out of the mall and into a car — through deception, coercion or threats.

The girls were then held in Maryland for a brief period, sexually assaulted and murdered, according to the accounts of police. They believe Welch carried some of the remains to wooded land in Bedford County that had been owned by his family. He was spotted throwing at least one large bag onto a fire, according to court records.

In 2015, Bedford County prosecutors secured indictments against Welch for two counts of murder during “the commission of abduction with the intent to defile.”

The hope for law enforcement officials after the indictment was that Welch would give them specific and credible information that could lead to charges against others. But that never happened.

The plea agreement, according to people familiar with the case, also would resolve two other, unrelated cases against Welch for conduct in the 1990s — cases that arose recently during the Lyon investigation.

Last year, Welch was indicted in Prince William County, Va., accused of raping a 6-year-old girl on a houseboat in 1996. This year, also in Prince William County, he was indicted on charges of aggravated sexual battery, allegedly for abusing another girl around the same time, according to court records.

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Man pleads guilty — 42 years after young Maryland sisters vanished — in case that stunned the Washington area .
Lloyd Welch, 60, pleaded guilty to murder in the deaths of Katherine and Sheila Lyon.It was their 11th session with the longtime sex offender, who held answers to questions that had haunted a Maryland family for more than 40 years: What happened to Katherine and Sheila — the Lyon sisters — after they vanished from a shopping mall in 1975?

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BREAKING: Guilty plea expected in 1975 abduction and murders of sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyon . A sex offender accused in the 1975 disappearance and murders of sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyon from a Wheaton shopping mall — one of Maryland’s most notorious crimes — is poised

A sex offender accused in the 1975 disappearance and murders of sisters Katherine and Sheila Lyon from a Wheaton shopping mall — one of Maryland’s most notorious crimes — is poised to enter a guilty plea , according to officials familiar with the negotiations.

— A convicted sex offender accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall is expected to plead guilty to the Lloyd Lee Welch Jr., 60, was scheduled to stand trial Tuesday in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

— A published report says a man accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. Lloyd Lee Welch Jr. was scheduled to stand trial next Tuesday in the killings of

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

A published report says Welch, accused in the 1975 murders of two young sisters who disappeared from a Maryland shopping mall, plans to plead guilty to a crime that’s haunted the region for more than four decades. 12, 2017, in the killings of 12-year-old Sheila Lyon and 10-year-old Katherine Lyon .

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